Screen 9
Introduction On August 15th, 2019, after a long wait of seventeen days, screen 9 was put live. This screen proved itself as one of the most convoluted puzzles yet, taking six entire days until to be solved. Among it's duration, some changes were made to the stream layout, including a small text box display above the main TV. The Dev used it provided the players with a few small hints. 'Solving Method' Screen 9 started off with an image of a red octopus, with the USSR anthem playing in the background. The camera then zoomed in towards the octopus, panning from tentacle to tentacle. The Octopus Upon closer inspection, a few things will stand out. Firstly, while the camera moves around the octopus's body, words written in Russian are positioned next to each tentacle, which once translated, give us the numbers between 1 and 8, giving us the sequence "2, 1, 5, 4, 6, 7, 3, 8". The Russian word for "Solution" later appears in reverse at the end of the loop. Along with that, located on the octopus's head, is the emblem of the KGB . The Anthem When viewed using a spectrogram visualization tool, a bunch of new clues are revealed. The text "LEROXDU_WFGHVJCTQPS/AZNBIYMK 7 3 5632", is displayed in a large font in the center of the graph, and below it, are eight small alphanumeric strings: # 4rYVPqwFHmg # g9w9ICxwsIo # K0IrIVu4b2E # VqfwWzu_unw # knxqrONHXk8 # 7-eYBOc204I # LMWHG4DPXGo # UrJt14jBPsU Decoding the initial clues The alphanumeric strings found in the spectrogram, being 11 characters long, were quickly identified as YouTube links! Each leading to a short video quickly moving between a multitude of frames containing colorful pixels with no audio. Every video had the same description ("144 1 1"), and the titles to these videos are as follow (In the order shown above): # 17642745979 # 23748445930 # 86055325139510055 # 823282096864234 # 93737342933 # 84648064284579826 # 20688668997269355 # 2668230529421 These numbers were later identified to be encoded with the Vic Cipher , using the parameters "LEROXDU_WFGHVJCTQPS/AZNBIYMK 7 3 5632", which were previously found in the anthem when viewed with a spectrogram tool, Successfully decoded our numbers to the words: # DEAFENED # TORMENT # SHLPICIOHL (Later corrected to be SUSPICIOUS) # ILLITERATE # OVERFLOW # MANAGEABLE # VISIONLESS # WITHHELD Decoding the videos After a few days lacking any progress, Lukasz decided to provide us with the hint: "Vy probovali sovmestnyy kontrol' versiy? || tovarishch, Lbom stenku ne rasshibyosh" which translates from Russian to: "Have you tried collaborative version control? || Comrade, you can’t break a wall with your forehead!". "Collaborative version control", directly referring to GitHub, finally gave the players the push they needed, and a short time after, a tool decoding the videos was found. Using the parameters "144 1 1", (Given in the description of the YouTube videos), as such: Resolution 144, Density 1, Cell count 1, each video provided us with an extension-less file. Looking back at the octopus, KGB is, in fact, a file extension! Each file was indeed KGB file, protected with a password (.kge). The password to each file was simply the words decoded using the Vic Cipher. At the entrance of this labyrinth, the true puzzle begins... The eight files extracted and accessed from the videos, all had an entire set of puzzles within them. DEAFENED This file contains 8 files within it, ending with either 001 or 002. The numbers preceding "001" or "002" are ASCII code for "LISTEN" and "ME" 001: 069, 073, 076, 078, 083, 084 = E I L N S T = LISTEN 002: 069, 077 = E M = ME Merging these files in the order "L, I, S, T, E, N, M, E", results with an OGG file, that when opened with a spectrogram visualizer, you'll notice that specific frequencies show up. The frequencies are: "10.2k, 09.9k, 05.1k, 10.0k, 09.8k, 05.5k, 05.6k, 05.4k", which are in fact ASCII CODE for: * 10.2k = 102 = f * 09.9k = 099 = c * 05.1k = 051 = 3 * 10.0k = 100 = d * 09.8k = 098 = b * 05.5k = 055 = 7 * 05.6k = 056 = 8 * 05.4k = 054 = 6 Giving us the final sequence and solution to SUSPICIOUS "fc3db786". TORMENT TORMENT presented us with eight extension-less files which were quickly found out to be PNG files. The file names were in fact numbers encoded with BASE64, are as follows: * MDAx = 001 * MDAy = 002 * MDAz = 003 * MDA0 = 004 * MDA1 = 005 * MDA2 = 006 * MDA3 = 007 * MDA4 = 008 When any of these files are opened as an archive, you'll find a password-protected image hidden within the original PNG file. To access the protected file, you must find the name the original painter of the file you're working with, and then encode it with BASE64, as hinted by the filenames. The list of painting and artist names are: * 001 = Saturn Devouring his Son = Francis Goya = RnJhbmNpcyBHb3lh * 002 = Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X = Francis Bacon = RnJhbmNpcyBCYWNvbg * 003 = Deterioration Of Mind Over Matter = Otto Rapp = T3R0byBSYXBw * 004 = Gallowgate lard = Ken Currie = S2VuIEN1cnJpZQ * 005 = Niña con Máscara de Calavera = Frida Kahlo = RnJpZGEgS2FobG8= * 006 = The Last Judgement = Fra Angelicoate = RnJhIEFuZ2VsaWNvYXRl * 007 = Inferno, Canto XXIV, Thieves - William Blake = V2lsbGlhbSBCbGFrZQ * 008 = St. Wolfgang and the Devil = Michael Pacher = TWljaGFlbCBQYWNoZXI= So to decode the image hidden within "MDAx", find the name of the painting, "Saturn Devouring his Son", and from there find the name of the artist, "Francis Goya", and then encode that name with BASE644, "RnJhbmNpcyBHb3lh", to then use it as the password for the file. Once all files are accessed, turn them into BPG image files. These images provide us with the final sequence and solution to TORMENT, "364d78e6". SUSPICIOUS SUSPICIOUS, consists of 41 different files, each ending with any number between 001 and 008. Combining all files, ending with the same numbers, constructs a ZPAQ file containing a 32000x32000px TIFF file. It’s almost important to note that these files all have colors encoded with HEX as their titles, these colors match the color of their image as well. In order to construct one of these files, you must merge them together IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEIR COLOR IS SPELLED. For example, 002’s order is 72.002, 65.002, 64.002, since it produces the word R, E, D in order. The translations are: * 001: 65, 68, 69, 74, 77 = E H I T W = WHITE * 002: 64, 65, 72 = D E R = RED * 003: 6c, 6c, 6f, 65, 77, 79 = L L O E W Y = YELLOW * 004: 6e, 65, 65, 67, 72 = N E E G R = GREEN * 005: 6b, 6c, 61, 62, 63 = K L A B C = BLACK * 006: 6d, 6e, 61, 61, 65, 67, 74, = M N A A E G T = MAGENTA * 007: 6e, 61, 63, 79 = N A C Y = CYAN * 008: 6c, 65, 70, 70, 72, 75 = L E P P R U = PURPLE When viewing each image's color-map, you'll notice that each image contains 9 different colors within them. Changing these colors to contrasting ones using the image’s color-map reveals these hidden characters: * 001: a * 002: f * 003: e * 004: 5 * 005: 9 * 006: 5 * 007: 2 * 008: 1 Giving us the final sequence and solution to SUSPICIOUS "afe59521". ILLITERATE Here, we are presented with 16 files, 8 of which are keys, and the rest are unidentified files, but after taking a brief look into their code using a text editor, these files were identified as PNG and KGE files. Every PNG file consisted of a single Punched Card. That can be read when placed on top of this guide: The keys, from 1 to 8, produced SHA1 hashes which translated to: * view * resolve * speech * conduct * livelihood * effort * mindfulness * samadhi Each giving access to the respective KGE file, which in turn provided us with eight OGG files, which all had the voice to text lines in Khmer. The translations are: * 001.ogg = this is the letter b * 002.ogg = my favorite number is 5 * 003.ogg = zero is the best number * 004.ogg = After zero comes b * 005.ogg = 3 is worth remembering * 006.ogg = one plus two equals this * 007.ogg = The second letter of the alphabet * 008.ogg = 36 13 (Later corrected to be “39 13”) 39/13 = 3 Giving us the final sequence and solution to ILLITERATE "b50b33b3". OVERFLOW Here, we are presented with 8 ZPAQ files, all containing an abnormally large (50GB) text file. The file names are all MD5 hashes which decode to: * 8f14e45fceea167a5a36dedd4bea2543 = 7 * 1679091c5a880faf6fb5e6087eb1b2dc = 6 * a87ff679a2f3e71d9181a67b7542122c = 4 * c4ca4238a0b923820dcc509a6f75849b = 1 * c9f0f895fb98ab9159f51fd0297e236d = 8 * c81e728d9d4c2f636f067f89cc14862c = 2 * e4da3b7fbbce2345d7772b0674a318d5 = 5 * eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3 = 3 The text files hidden within the archives all contain billions of "1"s, along with a single distinct character. Since most computers and programs are unable to open these files, you'll need special software. The characters found were: * 8f14e45fceea167a5a36dedd4bea2543 = 1 * 1679091c5a880faf6fb5e6087eb1b2dc = b * a87ff679a2f3e71d9181a67b7542122c = 2 * c4ca4238a0b923820dcc509a6f75849b = 3 * c9f0f895fb98ab9159f51fd0297e236d = 5 * c81e728d9d4c2f636f067f89cc14862c = b * e4da3b7fbbce2345d7772b0674a318d5 = c * eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3 = 7 And when placed in order, they produce final sequence and solution to OVERFLOW "3b72cb15". MANAGEABLE There's only one file (MJQXKZA=.MVWXK3DBORUW63Q=) The file’s name is BASE32 for “baud.emulation” and is also an OGG file. Opening it with using a spectrogram viewer reveals some hidden code. This is Binary Code, a filled square being equal to "1", and an empty square being equal to "0". "Baud" refers to Baudot Code, which is always read from top to bottom. Therefore, we must read our Binary Code from top to bottom, 1000111, 1001001, ... Every line corresponds to an ASCII character, translating to: GI = HE = GI = G4 = GY = IU = IM = IE = Which is BASE32 for "29276eca", the solution to MANAGEABLE. VISIONLESS VISIONLESS consists of four files, "01, 02, 03 and 05". Merging them all together creates a PNG file consisting of 234 QR codes, which all translate to a short BASE64 string. The file names "01, 02, 03 and 05", represent the notorious Fibonacci sequence, therefore, if you merge QR codes corresponding to each number in the series (#1, #2, #3, #5, ..., #233) and convert the BASE64 to a BPG file, you'll find this image: Giving us the solution to VISIONLESS "0429dbe7". WITHHELD There are 8 files with no extensions. But checking their file signatures they are all GIFs. The 8 GIFs were a jigsaw puzzle, assembling it resulted in this image: Using the file names in the order displayed on the assembled image resulted in the phrase: ">THIS IS NOT A GIF SHUFFLE<". GifShuffle is a software that hides messages inside of GIFs by shuffling its colormap. But as the puzzle suggested, it wasn't a GifShuffle. Actually it was another type of steganography software, called "SteganoGifPaletteOrder", that did almost the same thing as GifShuffle. By using this software, each gif produced a string of random characters. But looking for what was in between the "Greater Than" and "Less Than" symbols, just as we saw in the phrase ">THIS IS NOT A GIF SHUFFLE<", we found that in each string the gifs produced, there was a character in between those symbols. The characters were: * POINT RIGHT - b''' * THIS - '''8 * IS - 0''' * NOT - 9 * A - '''d * GIF - 7''' * SHUFFLE - '''b * POINT LEFT - 2''' That gave us the solution to WITHHELD ''"b809d7b2". The Answer The answers of the 8 puzzles should be ordered in the same order showed in the beginning of the puzzle: 1 -''' TORMENT - 364d78e6 '2 -' DEAFENED - fc3db786 '3 -' VISIONLESS - 0429dbe7 '4 -' ILLITERATE - b50b33b3 '5 -' SUSPICIOUS - afe59521 '6 -' OVERFLOW - 3c72cb15 '7 -' MANAGEABLE - 29276eca '8 -' WITHHELD - b809d7b2 With all answers ordered, we get the string: 364d78e6fc3db7860429dbe7b50b33b3afe595213c72cb1529276ecab809d7b2 That's a type of hash called SHA256, decoding the string in SHA256 resulted in the word "disappointed". Inverting "disappointed" as the mirrored "solution" on the head of the octopus suggested, resulted in "detnioppasid". Therefore, finally concluding this puzzle, our answer is ''detnioppasid.